Thomas Sowell, Our Greatest (Inconvenient) Intellectual

I recently sent a Thomas Sowell-penned article to an older Stanford alum relative who ignored my link and immediately replied labeling Sowell an “Uncle Tom”. Racism is par for the course when discussing him, unfortunately.

Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social scientist, Stanford fellow, Harvard magna cum laude, and author of over 30 books covering his sprawling academic expertise— but most importantly to many institution intelligentsia like my fam— he’s also black and conservative.

Despite those mutually exclusive traits, he’s been astoundingly correct in his musings about everything from childhood autism to race politics over the decades.

Those who know Sowell, hail him as the most consistent thought leader of our time. He champions policies that have been proven to help black and minority communities, such as school choice. But being “right” is unpopular, both as a political leaning and regarding being factually correct.

I felt the political animosity from my Bay Area default liberal peers after swallowing the proverbial “red pill” mid-2010s. I don’t regret doing so because Sowell struck a chord of affinity with me when I moved on from left-wing culture. Discovering the existence of Sowell solidified my pride in being a minority freethinker in this era where it is looked down upon.

Tom Sowell (90) was a Marxist throughout his 20s until he took up a federal intern job gathering raw economic data about the Puerto Rico sugar industry. What Sowell found disproved his earlier theories about workers and wages. Upon reporting the uncovered statistics, his employers stuck their fingers in their ears. Minimum wage policy helped the feds out and not the poor people it was supposed to help. Sowell’s experience turned him into one of the free market’s greatest defenders and one of the hard left’s biggest banes.

Sowell is no typical modern right-wing firebrand, though. He’s never been on social media, and he doesn’t “own the libs.” He’s notoriously hard to even talk to or interview. There’s not much to attack of him besides the conclusions presented in his meticulously researched books-- a fool's task.

Humility and integrity make it hard for left-wing media to attack Sowell but also easy to ignore. His ethnicity makes common racist slanders used against conservatives, inadvisable to attack him with. Haters are unable to refute anything he’s ever said or written with any credibility. It’s quite the feat. . . and the reason my academic friend hates him.

It's no secret that most of our media casts anyone remotely right-wing in a bad light. Black conservative opinions receive particularly critical backlash from talking heads and even get silently censored by the powers that be. It is because of this intellectual fraud from the establishment left that a black American genius raised by his great-aunt has never become a household name. Pretending he doesn’t exist is the most tactical political offense.

I wouldn’t have found him if it hadn’t been for conservative social media influencers—messengers who the tribalist left often shoot. Sowell’s diehard followers can’t help but preach his name on centrist/right-wing YouTube and tweet his famously succinct quotes that espouse data-driven common sense.

Like an ancient rock formation, Thomas Sowell is unmoving in a river turned rapid—a natural marvel. To make the trek from the left and witness his greatness is made difficult by tribalist ignorance. To honest thinkers, it’s only right to recognize him as he nears the end of his life.

If there’s one conservative everyone should consider listening to, it’s Thomas Sowell, our modern-day Socrates.

Check Thomas Sowell’s feature in the new critically acclaimed documentary UNCLE TOM (2020) currently on Amazon Prime, as well as his recent YouTube mini-doc here.